News

Sixty year friendship flourishesat PWL Wainwright

May 16th, 2018

Hazel Dalton and Dot Pomeroy have been friends for more than 60 years. It’s a friendship that began in Wainwright, and sustained across the miles and over the years. Now that they’re both at Points West Living Wainwright, they are rediscovering the pleasure of sharing memories and making new ones together.

Labour Day weekend, 1956

Hazel Dalton (left in above photo) and Dot Pomeroy first met each other on the day Dot and her husband Clare moved to town on a military transfer from Kingston Ontario. It was Labour Day weekend 1956, and their new home was next door to a ‘very pregnant’ Hazel and her husband Bob. Within a few days, Hazel gave birth to her second child, and the lifelong friendship took hold.

Coffee and visit over the fence

In the early years of being friends, they would coffee together and visit over the fence. Dot recalls having Hazel and family to her home for Christmas, kids being put to bed on a blanket on the floor, while the two couples enjoyed a nice evening of visiting.

Good friends keep in touch

From 1959 to 1975, Dot and Clare were stationed in various places in Canada as well as Germany. Their friendship bridged the distance. “Good friends keep in touch through the years,” says Dot.

Mom-2 and Auntie

During that time, Hazel and her husband ran a boarding house in Wainwright, she worked for an accountant, and later took some training in floral arranging in Wetaskiwin and Calgary. That led to a job with Blenda's Flowers, and eventually to her owning the shop. Hazel recalls that when she was in Calgary for training, Dot’s son came to pick her up – on his motorcycle – and took her to his place for dinner. She says that Dot's kids always referred to her as ‘Mom #2’, and that Hazel's kids called Dot ‘Auntie’, and they still do.

In 1975, Dot and her family moved back to Wainwright, where she worked at the Sears catalogue office. For the next 25 years, she and Hazel would get together for shopping, drives, and meals with the family.

More moves

Then in 2001, Dot moved to the west coast to be near her daughter. However, every two years she returned for a holiday visit with Hazel and Bob. In 2014 she moved back to Wainwright to come and live full time at PWL Wainwright.

Beautiful smiles and a few laughs

“Hazel moved into Points West in 2017, and it's like she and Dot have been neighbours all along,” says recreation coordinator Shauna Lee Carlson. “There are always beautiful smiles and usually a few laughs to be heard when they are together!”